Tamada his own biggest critic despite major progress

Looking back to the race at Mugello, I am really disappointed that I got such a bad start because later in the race I was clocking the same times as the leaders. When I found myself at the back I tried to adapt to the situation and maintain my rhythm as well as I could. I knew that it would be really difficult to get to the front so I just took each rider in front of me one by one. I pushed as hard as possible over the final laps – I just wanted to get past more guys and I didn´t care about risking a crash. So, I wasn´t happy with the result because I wasn´t fighting for the win. Even though I got my best result, with fourth, I was a long way from the first three and my objective is to fight with them.

I had no previous experience of Welkom, Jerez, Le Mans or Mugello but they weren´t too difficult to learn. I have heard that Assen is a tricky one, so I might have to be a bit careful there, but so far I have not had any problems with the new circuits. In the Friday and Saturday practice sessions I always concentrate on setting up the bike and choosing the tyres for the race. I work on this right up until the last minute, without even thinking about my lap times. We don´t have much time to prepare the bike and the race is more important than qualifying, although of course it is always better to have a good grid position.
Now we are back at Catalunya, where we already tested in March. I remember the circuit quite well so I can concentrate on set-up and tyres right from the start. We are progressing well with Bridgestone – at the beginning it was difficult but we have found the right way to go and we are continually improving. This is satisfying and it is beginning to show in the results. This weekend I hope to be in the fight for the front positions – at least for a few laps!.